By Juliette Jardim
June 28, 2010

Mayors- workforce directors from across the country gathered in Oklahoma City June 11–12 for The U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council (WDC) Annual Meeting, held in conjunction with the 78th Annual Conference of Mayors Meeting.

WDC President, Director of the City of Baltimore Office of Employment Development Karen Sitnick, presided over the session, which focused on job creation, engaging the business community, green jobs training and On-the-Job training.

With the growing economic crisis and increasingly high demands for job creation, WDC members discussed the relationship between small business and the local workforce system, and its capacity to act as an engine for economic growth with Small Business Policy Advisor for Representative Mary Fallin (OK) Derek Sparks.

Sparks- presentation was followed by a Best Practices panel of local workforce investment representatives on job creation and workforce development. The panel included remarks from CEO of the Central Oklahoma Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Eddie Foreman, Vice President and Director of Human Resources for Coppermark Bank Terre Bettis, Director of Human Resources for Bob Mills Furniture Jill Hudson, Human Resources Specialist for Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority Andrea Beals and Business Services and Communication Coordinator for the Central Oklahoma WIB Patricia Garrett.

WDC members heard from Durham (NC) Mayor William Bell and New Bedford (MA) Mayor Scott Lang, and their workforce directors, on their innovative green jobs training programs in the Green Today, Jobs Tomorrow — A Focus on Training the Green Collar Workforce workshop. This session showcased the award-winning programs of the 2010 Walmart Green Jobs Training Initaitive Pilot Awards program.

WDC members then attended a site visit to the Francis Tuttle Technology Center. At the Center, WDC members heard from Superintendent and CEO of the Center Dr. Tom Friedmann, who discussed the importance of earning industry-recognized credentials.

The Center is one of 29 vocational technical districts in Oklahoma, which provide high school and adult students, and business and industry customers with training focused on the needs of the marketplace. It has three programs designed to prepare high school students to pursue university-level degrees and offers a variety of training and consulting services including complete business and industry training, short-term training for career enhancement and several online services.

WDC members concluded the meeting with a panel of their fellow WDC members President and CEO of Job Works Steve Corona and Executive Director of Worksystems, Inc. Andrew McGough, who discussed their extensive experience with On-the-Job training, including success stories and pitfalls to avoid.

"The recent recession has brought a renewed focus on On-the-Job training in recent months, however many of us have never conducted OJT programs due to a lack of funding for several years," said Sitnick. "We want to be sure we know how to implement OJT programs efficiently and effectively, just as we did with the Summer Jobs program, to demonstrate to Congress and the White House that the workforce development system deserves more funding and support in upcoming legislation and [Workforce Investment Act] reauthorization."